AFC Divisional Playoff Preview

by Vinaik Gautam, Columnist

13 January, 2018

The journey begins here! The New England Patriots will play the Tennessee Titans today at 8:15pm. The Patriots, as they have done throughout their storied dynasty, have gotten a first round bye and will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Even though they were on a bye, there has been a lot of talk of the Patriots in the media specifically surrounding QB Tom Brady and Head Coach Bill Belichick. While some pundits are speculating that this might be the end of this power duo, no one does it better than the Patriots in blocking out the media and focusing on the task at hand. This week, there task is to beat the Titans, who are coming off an improbable road win against the heavily favored Kansas City Chiefs. In order for the Patriots to win this game, they need to limit QB Marcus Mariota's play making abilities. Mariota has established himself as one of the premier dual threat quarterbacks in the league and can change the momentum of the game with one play. The Patriot's defense has been solid to close out the regular season and will need to continue to play aggressively. They will also have to limit the run as RB Derrick Henry was able to carve up the Chiefs defense last week and really put the Titans in a situation to win the game. For the offense, I expect Tom Brady to have a solid game as the Titan's defense has been suspect all season. Brady will have to get the ball to his playmakers and also get the running game involved. RB Dion Lewis has had one of his best seasons so expect him to get involved early in the game. I expect the game to be close in the start but the Patriots should pull away towards the end of the game.